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A Great Prophet Has Appeared Among Us

February 20, 2022 · Harmony of the Gospels

Scripture referenced 12 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Romans 8

nothing can separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, angels or demons, fears or worries

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

8 Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25 But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33 Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Revelation 1

all glory and power to him forever, He comes with the clouds and everyone will see him

1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,

2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.

4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;

6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

9 I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet

11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.

13 And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.

14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,

18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;

20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.

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Psalm 8

when I look at the night sky, what are mere mortals that you should think about them

1 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!

2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

4 what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?

5 For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,

8 The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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1 Kings 17

Elijah sent to the widow of Zarephath, her flour and oil miraculously sustained, her son raised from the dead

1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

2 Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,

3 “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.

4 You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

7 After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8 Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,

9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

12 She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.

14 For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”

15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.

16 The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil did not fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.

17 After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.

18 She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”

19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.

20 He cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”

21 He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”

22 Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

23 Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”

24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”

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2 Kings 4

Elisha and the Shunammite woman, her son given to her and later raised from the dead

1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”

2 Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell me: what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.”

3 Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from of all your neighbors. Don’t borrow just a few containers.

4 Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”

5 So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil.

6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

9 She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.

10 Please let us make a little room on the roof. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”

11 One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there.

12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.

13 He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

14 He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”

15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door.

16 He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.

18 When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers.

19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

20 When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.

21 She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out.

22 She called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.”

23 He said, “Why would you want go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s alright.”

24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”

25 So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.

26 Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’” She answered, “It is well.”

27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”

30 The child’s mother said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose, and followed her.

31 Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed.

33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.

34 He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm.

35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

36 He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite!” So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”

37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.

38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

39 One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them.

40 So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out, and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

41 But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in…

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Matthew 8:1-5

Jesus heals a leper coming down from the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount

1 When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2 Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,

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Matthew 8:5-13

centurion comes to Jesus in Capernaum asking healing for his paralyzed servant

5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,

6 and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”

7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.

11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,

12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.

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Luke 7

Luke's account of the centurion's servant, Jewish elders sent to Jesus on his behalf

1 After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

2 A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.

3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.

4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,

5 for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”

6 Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.

7 Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed.

8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”

10 Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well.

11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him.

12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.

13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.”

14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”

15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.

16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”

17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea, and in all the surrounding region.

18 The disciples of John told him about all these things.

19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”

20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”

21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.

22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.

26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.

27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer, yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”

29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.

30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.

31 “To what then will I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?

32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’

33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.”

36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.

37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.”

41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”

43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.

45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.

46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 He said to the woman,…

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Luke 7

Jesus raises the widow of Nain's only son and gives him back to his mother

1 After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

2 A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.

3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.

4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,

5 for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”

6 Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.

7 Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed.

8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”

10 Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well.

11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him.

12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.

13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.”

14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”

15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.

16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”

17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea, and in all the surrounding region.

18 The disciples of John told him about all these things.

19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”

20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”

21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.

22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.

26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.

27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer, yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”

29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.

30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.

31 “To what then will I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?

32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’

33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.”

36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.

37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.”

41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”

43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.

45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.

46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 He said to the woman,…

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Deuteronomy 18

Moses foretells the Lord will raise up a prophet like me from among you, listen to him

1 The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion.

2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them.

3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.

4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.

5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever.

6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose;

7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.

8 They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.

9 When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

11 or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.

13 You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.

14 For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.

15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.

16 This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”

17 Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken.

18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.

19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”

21 You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?”

22 When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.

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Romans 15:13

benediction: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message followed Jesus as he moved from the Sermon on the Mount into action, showing through two Old Testament stories and three Gospel accounts that the same God who raised the dead through Elijah and Elisha was now present in Jesus. Pastor A walked the congregation through the pattern of miraculous provision and resurrection across centuries, building toward the claim that Jesus is the prophet Moses foretold. The through-line was simple: the miracles authenticate the message, and the message is that God has visited His people.

What was said

The sermon opened with a note on literary genre. Pastor A pointed out that moving from the Sermon on the Mount back into narrative requires a different kind of reading, and that the two Old Testament stories were not detours but deliberate preparation. Elijah fed a desperate widow from a jar that never ran dry and then raised her dead son, giving him back to his mother. Elisha did the same for the Shunammite woman, a woman who had prepared a room for him out of hospitality, and whose son died and was returned to her after earnest, strange, physical prayer. In both cases, God worked through a man of God who listened and obeyed, and through a woman who trusted enough to act on very little.

Coming back to the Gospels, Pastor A showed Jesus healing a leper immediately after the Sermon on the Mount. Where touching a leper would have made anyone else ceremonially unclean, Jesus touched the man and the cleanness ran the other direction. That pattern, where Jesus absorbs what should defile and returns wholeness instead, runs through everything that follows.

The centurion's request for his dying slave carried the same logic. The centurion, a Roman soldier and a Gentile, understood authority better than most of Israel did. He knew that Jesus did not need to come to his house, that a word would be enough. Pastor A noted that Jesus was amazed by this, and said plainly that many would come from the East and the West to recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while those who assumed their place at the table by birthright would find themselves outside.

The story of the widow of Nain landed the hardest. A widow had already buried her husband. Now her only son was being carried out. The crowd was mourning with her. Jesus touched the bier, which made Him ceremonially unclean, and simply spoke. The young man sat up. Jesus gave him back to his mother, using almost the same words the Old Testament used when Elijah and Elisha returned sons to their mothers.

Fear gripped everyone present. Pastor A was careful here not to soften that word. He said that an immediate, personal encounter with the power of God would frighten anyone, and the crowd's response was right. Out of that fear came the recognition: a great prophet has appeared among us, and God has visited His people. That phrase comes straight from Deuteronomy 18, where Moses told Israel that God would raise up a prophet like himself, from among them, and that they should listen to him.

Pastor A closed by noting that Jesus' fame was now growing, and that the next thing coming is John the Baptist, in prison, asking whether Jesus is really the one. Jesus' answer will be a list: lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised. The sermon essentially set up that moment, making clear that for those paying attention, the signs had been accumulating since the beginning.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

  1. Pastor A walked through how literary genre shapes the way we read the Bible, pointing out that rivers clapping their hands is figurative language and that the Sermon on the Mount is didactic teaching while the stories around it are narrative. How has paying attention to what kind of writing you are reading changed the way you understand a passage?
  2. In both the story of Elijah at Zarephath and Elisha and the Shunammite woman, the miracle required trust from more than one person. The widow fed Elijah first, and the Shunammite woman rode to Mount Carmel without telling her husband their son was dead. Where in your own life has acting in faith looked strange or even unreasonable to the people around you?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 8,247 words
Speaker 2Alright. Good morning, church. How are we doing this morning? How are you? You doing okay?
How about one of these? This is bad. This one's okay. This is great. Fantastic.
It's gonna be a good morning. Second Corinthians. Corinthians three seventeen, it says this. Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There's freedom.
Let's start by singing. Spirit of the living God. To overcome.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Few announcements this morning and I'm going invite Natalie Yates up if she would come up. That'd be good. We're going get to that one in a minute.
Monday nights are happening tomorrow night.
Speaker 2Yes, we are on tomorrow, 06:00 meal, music message. We'll do, soup and salad and cornbread. And tomorrow will be in John 18, and we're gonna rest right there at the death and burial of Jesus. Just let that sink in. As Blake often says, there's no Easter without Good Friday.
And so we're gonna let that sit with us, and it's it's gonna be a good night tomorrow.
Speaker 1And have a conversation afterwards. Right? So you'll go through it, and then we'll have a little gospel conversation afterwards. Awana's happening at the same time in this room. Starts off in here and spreads out all over the rest of the church.
Kids matter to God. It's a kids club starting at six, goes till 07:30. If you wanna know what's going on, there's a weekly email that comes out, and we have people all over the place that get these. Even if you can't be here, it's nice to know what's going on. So, if you wanna sign up, you can do that at firstbjackson.org and the Bible reading plan.
The Bible reading plan is so good. I love that so so much. Fridays was not one of y'all. It was me this time, and it's good to write that. But what I got back from it and didn't realize this, I wrote this little thing.
I got two sermons worth of material. I try to sink it into one paragraph, you know, and I got a a just a huge blessing back. Somebody wrote back and said, hey, pastor A. We moved away. Sorry.
That happens all the time. We love you. And it was so sweet, and I I imagine others have been getting that kind of message too. So so sweet. So it's good.
We're all reading the Bible together separately. We're in Hebrews right now, and it's just been fantastic. For me, it's been one of the things that's been a boost for me lately. So I hope it's a boost for you. If gathering, would you stay in, Natalie, and let us know what's going on?
Speaker 3Okay. Oh, sorry. Hi, guys. In two weeks, we're hosting a women's, I would say, retreat slash conference. This is not just a first be thing.
Last year, this is, I think, year number eight or nine running. This is a global weekend of worship and equipping for women. And last year, there were more than a million women that tuned in in over 6,000 locations. And the women of First Baptist and Jackson last year gathered in Bondurant, which we're still doing this year at Lane Brown's barn at the Heart To Heart Ranch in May as like a weekend retreat. But we felt strongly that it would be a lot harder for a neighbor or a friend or a teacher to accept an offer to drive down to Bondurant for a whole weekend and commit that way, so we wanted to bring it to town.
This is a huge answered prayer. I started trying to bring it to Jackson two years ago, and then COVID hit. And I think right now we have about 40 women registered, including eight high schoolers. So if you're in high school, this is also great for you or even late middle school. If you wanna be a participate and you're a teenager, come let me know because Jackson Hole Young Life will cover the cost for your registration.
But if you can't commit to the whole weekend, that's okay. We so would love to have you here even if you can just come for Friday night. I promise if you come Friday, you're gonna rearrange your schedule to be here some on Saturday. You don't wanna miss this opportunity. There's a lot of new faces, especially since COVID, and I think this is a great opportunity for us to, like, just spend some time together and get to know each other.
For our Spanish speaking friends, we will have a Spanish translation available for the whole weekend. So please spread the word in your communities as well. But if you're more comfortable with Spanish, we're gonna have that for you. And then we have Amy Litzleman and Casey McCooey and a few others who'll be leading worship for the weekend. And Addie Hair and one of her colleagues over at Three Creek are catering lunch.
So I promise you don't wanna miss it. And to the men, serve your ladies by encouraging them to go. Say, no worries. I'll take care of the cleaning and the kids this weekend. You go get refreshed.
So please register because we need to know approximate head count. You can do that at firstbee.org, all the information is there. And if you really want to get hyped up, there's even a little video link to give you a taste of what we're gonna cover for the weekend. So please spread the word. This is an opportunity to invite our neighbors in.
Speaker 1Cool. Thank you. Firstbjackson.org or call the office. Either way, thank you very much, Natalie. We are trying to get the directory published.
Oftentimes, people do not get their picture taken until they see the new directory and say, I missed it. We are doing a sneaky little first edition so that y'all will not miss it. Okay? We're trying to get it done. Nick is out this week, but we're really, really would really would like to have you email to the church office a horizontal photo of you, your family, your contact information so we can get you in there.
Okay? We're trying to get it done. Assistant at First B Jackson is where to send that. That's fine. Y'all know that.
Good. One thing remains. It's a song. Would you stand up? Sing together.
Glad to see you this morning. Give everybody a hidey ho. Even if you don't shake their hands. How about that? Hidey ho.
Speaker 2Let's sing that again. Higher than. Never fails and never I want you to know we're not making this up when we sing these things. This is real. Romans eight, I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, angels or demons.
The fears for today or worries about tomorrow. They don't separate us from God's love. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. God, thank you for your self giving, others focused love, your sacrificial love that you have poured out. You are continuously pouring it out on us.
God, may we receive it, believe it. In Jesus name, amen. From Revelation one, all glory and power to him forever ever. Amen. Look.
He comes with the clouds of heaven, and everyone will see him. When Jesus returns again, it's not gonna be a secret. We'll all know. We'll all see. I wanna sing of it.
Who can stop? And who can stop the Lord, oh, my name? Who can stop the Lord, oh, my name? So this is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. Here's a a good word from from Psalm eight this morning.
It says, when I when I look at the night sky and I see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place, what are mere mortals that you should think about them? Human beings that you should care for them. He's saying, who who are we, Lord, in light of you, your goodness and your your splendor and your greatness? Who are we? Who are we that you should care for us?
Lord, how majestic and your name fills the earth. Ray, would you pray?
Speaker 1God almighty, as we consider the cosmos, as we consider the universe and all of these galaxies and everything, it there is a tendency among every one of us to feel insignificant, Lord, yet you care for us. It says cast all of our cares on you. Cast all of our anxieties on you. Cast all of our double mindedness on you because you care for us, Lord. I pray that you'd keep our hearts alert and vigilant and sober.
Lord, I pray that you'd keep us in mind. We that we would keep you in mind, better stated. Lord, I thank you that you do care for us. We pray, Lord, that you would give that same sense. There are a lot of people in the world right now who feel terribly insignificant and depressed over that fact because they don't know how much you love and care for them.
You don't they don't know the provider that you are, and they don't know the savior that you sent, Lord God. I pray that we would be living a life that would draw people into you. May we be lifting Jesus up and allowing you to draw all men in that process. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this offering, Lord, on the gift and the giver, that it would do your kingdom work here on earth as it is in heaven, and that the gospel would spread to the very uttermost parts. We pray a blessing on everyone who has taken it as their responsibility to directly share your word in the way they live, in the way they speak.
And God, we pray that we'd be an encouragement to all of that and we would draw the hurt, the weary, the lonely, and the depressed into the family of God. In Jesus name, amen. Church downstairs. Time for children's church downstairs. And here they go.
Oh, boy. How are y'all this morning? Carl was asking for thumbs up, thumbs down. I'm a little nervous this morning. I don't know why.
Just the way it is. Last week, I mentioned, we're in a harmony of the gospels. We've been going through in order as best we can tell, kinda blending the gospels together, and some of them seem to be more chronological at certain points than other. They tell a lot of the same stories. It's a harmony of the synoptic gospel seen at the same time.
So it's similar stories, but they're in different places in the different gospels. So today, we're gonna go through that. But I mentioned preaching through the Old Testament last week, and I don't know if it was that that made me nervous today just mentioning it. But I thought about this. We're having supper Thursday night with a friend, and we talked about how when I when I grew up, I just knew that the Bible was the Bible was the Bible.
And so when the word said this, that was it. Period. I never thought about, okay, literary genre. Is this a book of history? Is this a book of law?
How long did it take to do this book? How long did it take to do that book? Was the is there figurative language? If you say, I believe everything in the Bible literally. Have you seen a river clap its hands?
Do you believe that that's gonna be on the last day where the rivers all clap their hands? They don't have hands. So there's literary genre involved. And in the last year, we've been in Revelation, which is plenty of figurative language. Right?
And a lot of future forecast and stuff and some just forth telling what God has said. Let's line up behind the lion and the lamb. Right? Jesus. He's the one who fights the battles, and let's line up behind him.
But literary genre matters, and I realized that going from the last few weeks with the I mean, we're in February and I'm talking the other side of Christmas. We've been in a gospel since August of last year. And so since August, we've been going through the gospels, all three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all at the same time. And as we're going forward, I'm thinking it's history. It's narrative.
But then we hit the sermon on the mount, and that is straight up didactic teaching. Right? And so we've been in that for a few weeks, and I felt a shift like, okay, we're going back to narrative now. In a sermon, if I'm giving a sermon about a sermon, I know the points of the sermon because they're written in the book. When you look at narrative, you don't always know.
Right? You're kinda trying to extrapolate. Okay. So we're gonna go to first Kings 17. That's a big surprise.
Second Kings four, and that is just the beginning of the story from first Kings 17. If you remember, Elijah Elijah, right, that was one of the precursors for messiah coming that Elijah would kinda reappear. And they didn't really know what to do with that. It was kinda like to them what revelation is to us. Right?
We don't know exactly how that's gonna look. But Elijah, this is a story about him going to Zarephath and it says, word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, arise and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you. Now seems like an unlikely candidate, a widow, to provide the food, but behold, I've commanded her to provide food. So he went.
He arose and went. Thank you, man of God. God tells him what to do and he goes and does it. When he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks and he called and said to her, please get me a little water and a cup so that I may drink. And she was going to get it.
And he called to her and said, and please bring me a piece of bread in your hand too. But she said, as the Lord, your God lives. Doesn't even say as lord, my God. As the Lord, your God lives. I recognize you.
As the Lord, your God lives. I have no food. Only a handful of flour in the bowl, little oil in the jar, and behold, I'm gathering a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son so that we may eat it and die. That's a desperate situation. She's talking about last meal for her and her son.
She's already lost her husband. However, Elijah said to her, don't fear. Go and do as you have said. Just make a little bread loaf from it first and bring it out to me. She just said it was her last meal.
And now this compassionate, merciful man of God says, feed me first. But the Lord had commanded her to feed him, and Elijah knew that. And don't fear. Bring it out to me and afterward, you may wake make one for yourself and for your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, the bowl of flour shall not be used up nor shall the jar of oil become empty until the day that the Lord provides rain on the face of the earth.
Drought was the problem. So she went, she did everything according to the word of Elijah, and she and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil become empty in accordance with the word of the Lord which he spoke through Elijah. That's great, isn't it? Took faith on the lady's part.
She could have said no. Elijah could have said no by that matter. But he was a man of God, and he was listening out for what God told him to do, and he did it. And then she was listening out for what God told her to do, and she did it. And God provided.
That's good. Now it happened after these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick, and his condition became very grave. Poor lady. Until at the end, there was no longer breathing. He's dead.
So she said to Elijah, why is my business any of yours? Man of God. You man of God. Yet you've come to me to bring my wrongdoing to my remembrance. She thought it was her fault.
And to put my son to death, but he said to her, give me your son. Trust me. Give me your son. And he took him from her arms, and he carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, laid him on his own bed, and he called to the Lord and said, Lord my God, you have also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I'm staying by causing her son to die, question mark. And then he stretched himself over the boy three times, called the Lord and said, Lord, my God, please let this boy's life return to him.
And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah and the life of the boy returned to him, and he revived. And Elijah then took the boy, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, see, your son is alive. Then the woman said to Elijah, now now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth. So just like miracles in Jesus' day, the miracles authenticate message.
Jesus was much more concerned about the message than the miracles but he still did the miracles. Second Kings four. So, this is Elijah first. Now, Elisha. We're getting into Elisha.
By the way, we started three minutes late. Don't be looking at your watches at twelve, Okay? Now, day came when Elisha, this is not Elijah. Elisha, the understudy. Elisha went over to Shunam where there was a prominent woman and she urged him to get to eat food.
She urged him to eat food and so it was as often as he passed by this prominent woman that he turned in there to eat food. And she said, this is what missionary circles we would call a person of peace. And she said to her husband, behold now, I'm aware that this is a holy man of God who's passing by us repeatedly, comes by all the time. Please, let's make a little bit of of a walled upper room. We've got the resources for that.
Let's set up a bed for him there and a table and a chair and a lampstand that it shall be, when he comes, that he can turn in there. Let's just let's just make a safe place for him. Now one day he came there and turned into the upper room and rested and then he said to his servant Gehazi, call this Shunammite, the Shunammite woman. And when he called her, she stood before him and she's and he said to him, say now to her, behold, you have taken trouble for us with all of this care. What now can I do for you?
Would you like for me to speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army? Because he had their ear. But she answered, I live among my own people. So he said, what then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, it's a fact that she has no son and her husband is old.
This is a common theme in the, Old Testament. Right? She wants a child and her husband is old. And he said to her, oh, then he said he then said, call her. When he called her, she stood in the doorway and then he said, this season next year, you're gonna embrace a son.
And she said, no, my lord. You man of God, do not lie to your servant. This is my biggest hope and wish. This is what I want more than anything. Don't tell me that if it's not going to be.
Now the woman conceived and gave birth to a son. At that season the next year, just as Elisha had told her, Elisha and Elijah both were prophets. Meaning, they spoke the word of the Lord. Thus, saith the Lord. Now, the story turns right here.
When the child was grown, little older, the day came when he went out with to his father, to the reapers while his daddy was working, and he said to his father, my head, my head, exclamation point. And his father said to his servant, carry him to his mother. When he had carried him up and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. Similar story. Elisha and Elijah, she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God up in that upper room that she prepared for Elijah.
And she shut the door and she behind him and left, this woman has faith that faith in God, at least faith in Elisha, but probably faith in God too. She had prepared that for him and she trusted because God had given her a son. And now it appears that God has taken that son away. Then she called to her husband and said, please send me one of the servants, one of the donkeys so that I may run to the man of God and return. But he said, why are you going to him today?
It's neither new moon nor Sabbath. That's not your custom. So she just said, it'll be fine. She hadn't even mentioned to her husband that the son was dead. Then she saddled the donkey, said to her servant, and how hard that would would that have been for daddy who said, yeah, carry that boy to his mama.
Right? Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, drive the donkey and go on. No. Do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you. So she went on and she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel at Mount Carmel where the prophets of Baal have been defeated.
Wow. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi, his servant, behold that person there is the Shunammite. I recognize her. Please run out now to meet her and say to her, is all going well with you? Is it going well for your husband?
Is it going well for the child? And then she answered, it is going well. That was a lie, by the way. Could you see that? But she came to the man of God at the hill and took hold of his feet.
She didn't trust Gehazi. She didn't trust her husband. She didn't trust her servant. She didn't tell anybody else. But she knew Elisha.
She came to the man of God at the hill and took hold of his feet and Gehazi came up to push her away. But the man of God said, leave her alone for her soul is troubled within her. And for some reason, the Lord has concealed it for me and has not informed me. And then she said, did I ask for a son for my Lord? Did I not say, do not give me false hope?
And then he said to Gehazi, get ready. Get ready, Gehazi. Saddle up. Take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, don't greet them.
And if anyone greets you, don't reply to them. And lay my staff on this boy's face, this dead boy's face. And the mother of the boy said, as surely as the Lord lives and you you yourself live, I will not leave you. She's hanging on to his feet and praying to God, praying through him actually at that time. So he got up and followed her.
He didn't want her to not be there, so he got up and followed her. And then Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound, no response. So he returned to meet him and informed him the boy has not awakened. He's still dead. Still dead is not really news, but it is in this case.
When Elisha entered the house, behold, the boy was dead, laid on his bed. There's no doubt. So he entered and shut the door behind them both, and he prayed to the Lord. Elisha was a man of God. He spoke the word of the Lord, but he couldn't speak anything that God God didn't give to him.
And for some reason, God had concealed it from him. And so he prayed to the Lord. Then he got up on the bed and lay on top of the child. He put his mouth on his mouth, mouth to mouth, Old Testament. His eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, he bent down, and the flesh of the child became warm.
Then he returned and he walked in the house back and forth once and went up, bent down again. The boy sneezed seven times. Isn't that a strange response? And then the boy opened his eyes and he called Gehazi and said, Call the Shunammite. And so he called her.
And when she came to him, he said, pick up your son. He gave him back to his mama. Then she came in and she fell at his feet. She bowed down to the ground and she picked up her son and she left. So we're to a harmony of the gospel.
That those might seem like, wow, two weird old testament stories, things that we don't usually see today and things that are hard to extrapolate all that's coming. I tried to point out a few as we went, but there's more there. Harmony of these synoptic gospels. We're gonna cover this much today. So that's Matthew and Luke, and there's a little bit more in Luke because I'm telling two stories from Luke and one from Matthew today.
So first Matthew eight one to five thirteen is what you got in your little email bulletin if you were looking this week. I skipped over two, three, and four because oh, I'll get to it in a minute. So we just finished the sermon on the mount. Switching literary genres here. Now you've had this jarring from Jesus' words to the Old Testament prophets, and now we're coming back.
We just finished the sermon on the mount. The last couple of paragraphs go into this. Be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful. Do not judge with the same measure that you judge, you'll be judged unto you. Do not condemn because there's only one judge and you ain't him.
Give to whoever asks of you. And then he says, if you hear these words of mine and you act on them, so listen and apply it to your life. That's the sermon on the mount in a nutshell. Now when Jesus came down from the mountain, sermon on the Mount Mountain, large crowds followed him. I imagine so.
We wanna see what this guy's gonna do. We heard what he said. Now we wanna see what he's gonna do. And Matthew, the first story in Matthew is this one, and a man with leprosy came to him and bowed down before him. Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.
Jesus reached out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing. Now, leprosy, you'd be defiled if you touch the guy. Right? But he reached out and touched the guy. Of course, he made him clean.
So instead of the unclean making Jesus unclean, the clean, Jesus made that man clean, And he said, I am willing. Be cleansed. He spoke it. And to be in, immediately the leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, see that you tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest.
Why would he do that? Because one of the signs of mess one of the signs of messiah being there was that lepers were healed. Okay? Lepers were healed. You can't do that.
Now Naaman the Syrian had been healed of leprosy by who? The man of God. But they were looking for that return of the spirit of Elijah. Jesus said, don't tell anybody else, but go and show yourself to the priest. Present the offering Moses commanded, stick with the law, and do it as a testimony to them so that they would know that messiah is here.
They should have recognized it, but they didn't. So we covered all this on September 26. If you want to go back, there's Matthew eight, Mark one, Luke four, all tell them the same story. Luke four and five. Five, actually.
Matthew eight five seven. So this is the next thing he does. He heals a leper and then in Matthew, it says, when Jesus entered Capernaum, which was his hangout where Peter's house was, where Andrew's house was, it's mainly where Jesus set up camp, it seems, for his three years of ministry. If he had what was close to a home, that was where it was. And when Jesus entered Capernaum on the northwestern slopes of the Sea Of Galilee, When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him.
A centurion is a Roman soldier in charge of a 100 men. Fairly well-to-do at the time. And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion Roman soldier, part of the oppressing army that's oppressing the people of the Jews, came to him begging him and saying, Lord, my servant is living paralyzed at home and terribly tormented. My servant right there is this word, pais. Pais.
And doesn't mean country like it does in Spanish, but pais means a young male slave or a servant. And that was pretty common to have a young slave that grows up with your family. They're your property. You do have to provide for them. I'm not pro slavery.
Don't get me wrong, but it's just a fact of life. Young male slave. It's a it's a different word than the one Paul uses all the time, like doulos is another word for slave, and it's a slave, bondservant slave. And saying, Lord, my slave, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, and I care about him. He's terribly tormented.
If you're we went recently on a little vacation on the way back. We stopped and saw a friend of ours in LA. We had twelve hours to or what, twenty something hours to spend. And so we went to the Getty Museum, and in their Hall Of Sculpture was this. It's a little boy named Marshall, and it's a little boy who was a slave.
And the owner of this slave thought enough of this little boy. It says he lived two years and ten months. I see Latin scholars looking to see the inscription. There it is. It says, dearest marshal, a slave child who lived two years and ten months and eight days.
His owner must have been pretty fond of him and cared deeply about him because he commissioned this portrait at some expense. That was in the first century, that little thing. So that's kind of part of life, which removed from the centuries, some things make sense to us and some things just don't. You know? But he just finished the Sermon on the Mount.
Be merciful. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Give. He's got a whole crowd of people following him.
He comes down the hill, and he meets a Roman oppression soldier, right, who is a slave owner. Oh my goodness. And what does he do? Jesus said to him, I'll come heal him. He was given to whoever asked of him.
He was being merciful on not just the guy, but on the slave. Jesus said to him, I'll come heal him. And the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed.
Same word right there. My little boy slave will be healed. For I'm also a man under authority with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, go, and he goes into another common. He comes in to my slave. Do this and he does it.
That's just what happens. But when Jesus heard this, he was amazed. And he said to those who are following, truly I say to you, I've not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. He recognizes Jesus' authority from God, and he understands how that works. Luke actually illustrates it a little better about the way he tells the story.
We'll get to that in a minute. And I saw and I say to you, many will come from the East and the West. Lord, may we be a part of many coming from the East and the West. And they will recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Many outsiders.
This was a Gentile Roman soldier. Right? Many will come from the East and the West. That's what we're looking for. When we pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are looking for the people in the uttermost parts to hear the message of Jesus so that they may recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
And this says, but the sons of the kingdom, the ones who are born into this, be thrown out in the utter darkness if you just hold on to just being in the right family. They'll be thrown out in the utter darkness in that place where they'd be weeping and gnashing teeth. That's a hard message, especially since he's been speaking to his disciples and coming down and giving them a chance to see this sermon illustrated. And Jesus said to the centurion, go. It shall be done for you just as you have believed.
The man believed that if Jesus wanted to, he could and Jesus did want to and he did. And the servant was healed at that very moment. Probably enough for a sermon right there, but let's listen to Luke tell the story. When he had completed all his teaching and the hearing of the people, this is Sermon on the Mount, he went to Capernaum. Okay.
Now Centurion slave who was highly regarded by him was sick and he was about to die. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him because he's a man of authority and he knows how to do that. He told Jesus that in the in Matthew's version of the story, tells him, both of these things are possible. He's in Capernaum anyway. He's close by this guy's probably got a nicer house, maybe on the outskirts of town, not right downtown.
But when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and to save the life of his slave slave. That's a different word. That's actually doulos right there. It's interesting that we don't really know what to think, but you get the guy's heart for this kid because of what he calls him. Everybody else calls him a slave because that's what he is.
It's his caste or class. When they when they came to Jesus, they strongly urged him saying this. Now this sounds like, the religious folk of the day and probably the religious folk of this day. When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged Jesus. He is worthy for you to grant this to him.
Now that says those Jewish guys believe too that Jesus could do this. They also believed that this guy was worthy. Why? He loves our nation. He loves us.
He's proven that because he helped us build our synagogue. Do it, Jesus. He's he's worth it. He's one of the working poor. Oh, I'm sorry.
No. He's we get that a lot today rather than and and the leper was absolutely destitute. That's right before this in Matthew. For this guy, he's got means. He could have gone to a doctor.
Luke is a doctor. Luke is looking at it and going, poor guy. Poor thing. Jesus started on his way with them, but already, when he was not yet far from the house, the centurion sent friends. He's always sending people.
Saying to him, Lord, don't trouble yourself further. I'm not worthy for you to enter under my roof. That's a humility before Jesus or before God. For that reason, I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you at first, but you just say the word and my servant shall be healed. It sounds like he came out to meet him, scared that he would come in, knowing that he couldn't come into a Gentile's house for one thing, ceremonial uncleanness.
He knows what it's like. He's been dealing with the Jews. He built the synagogue for them. I'm sure that he knows about all the different rules. For I'm a man placed under authority when the soldiers under myself, and I say to this one, go and he goes, and another come and he comes, and to my slave, do this and he does it.
Now when Jesus heard this, he was amazed at it. Same verbiage. And turned and said to the crowd that was following, these are those disciples and the people who are listening to the Sermon on the Mount. I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found that slave in good health.
Same outcome, same story. Jesus heals a leper touching the untouchable. He's destitute. He's absolutely poor. Can't do anything for himself.
Jesus was willing. And then he heals this centurion slave. Same story told in Luke and is commended, this Gentile, is commended for his faith. But what's next in Luke? The very next thing is this.
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a city called Nain. It's about a day's walk from Capernaum by way of Jesus' hometown, Nazareth. Right? It would have been right there. In fact, here it is.
So Capernaum up there, Nain, about a day, maybe a day and a little bit, but he went down to Nain on this Mount Mora right here. It's a kind of it's a little more than a butte, but it's not a mountain as y'all would call a mountain. But Nain is the city right there on that mountainside. It's less than five miles from Shunamm. You remember the Shunammite woman?
Same place. Same place. Name. And his disciples were going along with him and accompanied by a large crowd. A large crowd's been following him since the sermon on the mount, it seems.
Luke always points it out when there's a large crowd. Now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out. This dead man was being carried out, and the circumstances are sad. He's the only son of his mother. Only child, only son of his mother.
And she was a widow, so she had already buried her husband and now her only son. That was the means of support at the time. Even if she had daughters, it wouldn't have been something that, would have been easy to take. It never is. There's a significant percentage of this church who've lost children, and it is the worst.
Now as approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a sizable crowd from the city was with her. And the thing to do when people are grieving is grieve with them, and it says, when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her. And he said to her, don't go on weeping. Some of them just say, don't cry. He's saying, you're crying.
He's saying, don't go on weeping. Now we can do that for people. I usually try not to because it's an easy thing to say, but not an easy thing to do. You don't just tell somebody, oh, don't cry. It's gonna be alright.
No. You cry with them. It's terribly, terribly, terribly sad. But Jesus said, don't go on weeping. Why not?
He came up and he touched the coffin, which is an open buyer. You can see the you can see the body typically on a plank. And he walks up and he touches the coffin, which would make you ceremonially unclean. If you touch that, the pallbearers themselves, all of the pallbearers that are carrying this pall, this out, they were ceremonially unclean for seven days. There's no way to get around it.
You just can't do anything for seven days. There are purification rituals for everything else, but the corpse is the most difficult of the purification, problems, corpse and corpse uncleanness. And Jesus came up and he touched the coffin. What a surprise. And the bearers came to a halt because who would do that and why?
And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. That sounds like Lazarus. So as he called him, he didn't know he didn't know his name. Jesus probably knew his name. But he knew he was a young man.
He could see him, and he says to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. It's the same verbiage. It's in a different language, obviously, but it's the same verbiage as Elijah giving back that son to his mother.
It's the same story as Elisha giving back that son to his mother, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Now Elijah went through, some pretty extensive kind of prayer and doing this and that and calling upon the name of the Lord and then God healed that kid or resurrected that kid. And then Elisha, really strange to our way of thinking, laying down face to face, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, bending down, all of this stuff, but earnest prayer too. Please, Lord, revive this kid. He's a man of the Lord.
The lady had faith. All of those things, and God chose to resurrect that child for Elisha too. But Jesus simply spoke the word. Instead of that dead man's unclean corpse causing Jesus to be unclean, Jesus' absolute purity caused that man to revive. There's a difference.
Now, is that the spirit of Elijah? I think it is. You know, part of the reason I think it is is because next week, we're gonna see John the Baptist languishing in prison go, are you it? Or is there someone else? And then Jesus says what?
Go tell John. Lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are resurrected. Go tell John. It's me. That's so good.
It's so so good. We'll hit that next week. This says fear grip them all. If you try to say, well, it's all reverence, it is. But it's fear, FOBOS, what we get our word phobia from.
Fear grip them all. Think about this. If you all of a sudden had a a personal interaction with the almighty power of God, would it scare you? Absolutely, it would. Fear gripped them all.
Now that's an immediate reaction to, oh my goodness. I know this guy was dead. I'm carrying him, And he sits up, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. And it says, fear gripped them all. They were overcome, awestruck, but afraid.
And in addition to that fear, they began glorifying God saying, what? A great prophet has appeared among us. Now I've been talking about the signs of Messiah coming in from this side of it. We know Jesus is the Messiah. That's no problem.
But for them, they're looking and being careful about is it? Could it be? What in them? Maybe there have been a lot of people come along that we thought were it. But these people, after having that personal interaction, fear gripped them, and they said a great prophet has appeared among us.
Do you all remember from Deuteronomy 18 when Moses is going through before people go into the promised land and he's given them kind of a retelling of the law and everything else? He says, listen to me now. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, a great prophet, one who will speak for him from among you. Same verbiage. The Lord your God will raise up for you like me, from among you, from your countrymen, and to him, you shall listen.
Just listen to him. Whatever he says, listen to him. He had just preached the sermon on the mount. Be merciful. Do not judge.
Do not condemn. And then he was showing it in the way that he was treating people, whether they were destitute or of means. A great prophet has appeared among us, and God has visited his people. We spent a lot of time at Christmas talking about Emmanuel, God with us. The recognition that God had visited his people is profound.
And this report or logos in this case, this word this word or news about him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region. Now Jesus' fame is growing. I I told Carl, he said alright. I told Blake. He always picks the benediction.
And he said, what's this one about? I said, we'll know when it's over. There's a lot here. Okay? There's a ton here, but Jesus' fame is growing.
There are people that are hearing about him for the first time. There are people who are taking him seriously for the first time because they're seeing things that have been forecast literally since the days of Moses and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, really, and Moses and Elijah and Elisha and the spirit of Elijah has returned, and there's no doubt about it. So next week, we'll see Jesus assuring John the Baptist, but that's not all. There's growing fame, and from this point, there's an emphasis on repentance, okay? Jesus, because John's not gonna be with us much longer and John's message was repent.
Repent. Turn everyone of you. The axe is laid at the root of the trees. Repent. Find what God is pointing out in your life and allow him to pluck it out and transform you and change you.
Repent. So, Jesus will go into that and his fame grows and because he is presenting and because he is lifting up John the Baptist in his ministry, he's starting to make religious enemies and we'll see this carry on all the way through to the cross. Is there anything else up there, Blake? Okay. Three minutes over.
Come on. Let's sing a song together. King of Kings, this is the gospel in one song. It is so good. The altar is always open for you if you want to come up and pray, if you want to come up and just bow, if you want to come up and sing, praise God, whatever.
The altar is always open. If you want to talk to me, I'll turn my mic off and stop playing the bass but as we go through this gospel together in song, I pray that you just open your heart, that you would begin to have that personal experience with him that brought about fear because it was immediate and sudden with them but something that overwhelmingly convicts you so that you may begin to glorify God. Amen. Amen. And the benediction today is from Romans fifteen thirteen.
And now may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. That's part of it, okay? Be trusting in him. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, let us walk in it.
Amen.

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